To the Smell of Your Perfume
by Our Splendid Songs
Summary: Highschool AU, GirlxGirl. Who knew it would be someone like Vanille to crack through to the warm heart of the icy glacier that surrounded Lightning Farron's heart? Neither knew but love flipped their worlds upside down...and they loved it.
1. Enigmas and Motorcycles

**Uhm, I accidentally deleted this story so I'm reposting it o.o This is a high school version of Final Fantasy XIII Starring my favorite characters. I hope you like it =)  
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** Okay, first, obviously I had to change their ages.**

**Lightning: 18 Snow: 17 Hope: 14 Serah: 15 Vanille: 15 Fang: 18 Sazh: Same age.**

**Second, I have a specific outfit I'm going to use for Lightning in a few settings so here is the link to the picture: http:/nicegal1[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/Lightning-Wallpaper-204027498 This isn't my work! All the credit goes to nicegal1 (aka Jess) for creating the picture but the outfit usage is of Square Enix. (It's Lightning's Aya Brea alternative costume from Dissidia 012) Without further interruptions, here goes nothin'! (I hid some other Final Fantasy characters in here from past games, can you find them all? ;3)**

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><p>Vanille looked at herself in the mirror checking for any stray hairs sticking up or if her make-up smudged in any place. She wasn't one for wearing a lot of make-up just some mascara and eyeliner and just enough lip gloss to make her lips a tad shiny. Her outfit consisted of pink skinny jeans with black designs and a black shirt cut to show her shoulders with pink straps seemingly like a tank top on her shoulders to hold the shirt up. Her skate shoes matched in color to the rest of her clothes. She hoped it looked okay. It felt like it was her first time just putting on clothes for herself.<p>

Two loud honks sounded outside. Probably Hope's mom coming to pick her up. Her friend's mom often did so since Vanille's house was on her way to the school. Vanille grabbed her bag and hurried down the stairs and out the door.

"Hey, Vanille!" Hope called waving to her from the car window. He moved over a seat as she hopped in. "Ready for high school?" He sounded so excited.

"Not really, all those older kids are going to be so mean probably! We're only Freshmen Hope! Freshmen always get teased…" Vanille toyed with her bag's strap moving the shoulder cushion up and down slowly.

"No we won't, Vanille. All of the older students will be too busy trying to act cool, so they won't have time to mess with us. It'll be fine, don't worry!" He nudged her shoulder playfully.

Hope had been her best friend ever since elementary school. The two had always stuck together even when their other friends moved or split apart from them. Hope was usually left out of things because his birthday was so much later than all of the other kids' making him the youngest out of his grade. Vanille on the other hand had a birthday that was just a little earlier than most students'. It made her older for about a month or so.

Two giant Behemoth statues stood on either side of the walkway into the school. The Behemoth was obviously the school's mascot according to the banner above the statues.

_Welcome back, Behemoths!_ It read in red and gold lettering. Vanille wondered if the school would be just as scary as its mascot looked. The only thing stronger than Behemoths were the Fal'Cie themselves.

Mrs. Estheim dropped them off at the base of the parking lot and waved goodbye bidding them good luck. Vanille had the feeling they would have anything but.

"Come on, Vanille! We don't want to be late!" Hope grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along.

A motorcycle engine revved behind them and zoomed in front of them into the empty parking space nearly knocking them down. The bike was black with neon green décor and chrome trim. The rider's jacket was also black and neon green along with their helmet. They had on a pair of loose, but not baggy, navy digital camouflage pants and black military boots. Vanille couldn't tell the gender since the jacket was bulky, too. Whatever hair the person had hid under the jacket and their helmet.

"Jerk!" Hope shouted at the person before resuming his fast paced walk.

_Who was that?_ Vanille wondered. _Oh_ _well, I'll probably find out at some point. _

"Can you believe that jerk? They nearly killed us, and on our first day, too. Tch." Hope shook his head. "Where's your homeroom, Vanille?" He took out the slip of paper with his class schedule and homeroom number on it.

Vanille did the same trying to decipher the tiny print. She wondered how the people making their schedules could even read this when they typed it.

"Uhm, it says Room 412 I think. It's hard to tell with this tiny writing." She smiled. "What's yours?"

"Oh, mine's Room 411. It must be going by our last names. Makes sense I guess." He flipped his schedule over to the side with the map. His finger traced from the spot they were at until he found the 400-Hallway. The school was concrete and red from its bricks. It had a free area in the middle. The gymnasium was in the back and the cafeteria to the far left facing toward the open area. The administrative offices were immediately to the right of the entrance to the school; their windows were adorned with school pride paint and banners.

Vanille walked into the heart of the school watching all of the students conversing with one another in their set groups. She saw a few people from their middle school but not as many as she thought there would be. Then again there were five high schools in the area to make up for the many, many middle schools around. She took a deep breath and followed her friend to the entrance of the hallway where they figured they would wait until the morning bell rang to begin school.

The bell finally rang for school to start and the two walked a bit cautiously to their rooms. Vanille could tell Hope was finally realizing how nerve racking their first few weeks was going to be. Although, he would have a better time than her sometimes.

"Well, see you later, Vanille." Hope gave her a half-hearted smile and entered his class.

Vanille's heart raced as she turned the metal handle and opened the door to the classroom. There was only about two or three students seated at the moment. One was a boy with short, spiky dirty-blond hair and looked really athletic. A girl with shoulder length brown hair with a mild gray tint sat next to him reading a novel. The last girl had black hair sort of messy sat relaxed in the second to last seat of the last row; she wore a more gothic-rocker style attire.

The room itself was nice and comforting to Vanille. Pictures of chocobos doing scholastic activities decorated the walls along with other colorful posters. The back wall behind the rows of desks was a whiteboard with Rules and Obligations and Policies written and taped up. The schedule for classes and the three lunches was written largely in a space.

Slowly Vanille placed herself at the last desk of the first row. It's not that she didn't like teachers but she became paranoid about other students whispering about her and staring at her. She often felt this way after the…incident in the fourth grade when two girls had written "Loser" on the back of her white shirt in black marker. Her parents were working that day so she had to go the entire day with that shirt on inside out. That day she had met Hope, and he lent her his jacket for the rest of the day and his mother drove her home.

The school bell made her jump slightly from her daze. The last few students slinked in hoping to get unnoticed by the teacher. A cheery strawberry-blond took seat next to Vanille smiling at her as she did so.

"Don't worry," the girl whispered, "Mr. Sazh is really nice! The board says 'Mr. Katzroy' but he doesn't mind if you call him by his first name."

For some reason the girl made Vanille smile with her pink shirt and red plaid skirt with black lace and a transparent sleeveless shirt on top. Would she make a new friend already?

"Hey, kids!" Mr. Katzroy smiled looking over his new class of fresh faces. He was an average height black man with a moderately large afro and friendly eyes. "Alright so here are the basics: My name is Mr. Katzroy but you can call me Sazh or Mr. Sazh. This is your homeroom! I like having a casual relationship with my kids rather than a professional one." He looked toward the door and lowered his voice slightly holding his hand next to his mouth, "I don't mind you listening to music as long as you do it when I'm not talking or teaching. I don't mind if you eat your breakfast in my room just don't leave a mess! If I can eat my food when I want then so can you!" He sighed sarcastically and unfolded a piece of paper and getting a pen. "Now it's time for that boring stuff the boss guy makes me do. Let's call roll."

The atmosphere relaxed a little as Mr. Sazh spoke. He had a sarcastic way of speaking and his eyes sparkled when he joked around. A smile crept over every face in the room including Vanille's. Her muscles tensed which she didn't realize had been hurting until they were relaxed.

"See? Told you he was pretty cool," the pink-haired girl winked.

_I guess she saw how tense I was earlier. _Vanille breathed deeply.

"D-Dia?" Mr. Katzroy called looking over the rim of his glasses.

"Here!" Vanille piped.

"How do you say your name, kid?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oerba Dia Vanille, sir." Her voice shook a little despite her relaxing.

"Man, what a strange name. Does it mean anything? Like an origin?"

"It means Vanille of the Dia Clan of Oerba, sir." Vanille took a lot of pride in her name.

"Clan, huh? Must be a family history thing. Pretty interesting, anyways, uhm, Serah Farron?"

"Present!" The pink-blond waved a hand.

_Farron? I thought this was the homeroom for students' last names starting with 'D'. _

"If your last name starts with an 'F' then why are you here?" Vanille whispered.

"I don't really know, honestly. I guess they just got it mixed up, or put me here since Sazh knows my family, well my sister anyways, pretty well. He's a sports coach, too. My sister does a lot of sports and physical stuff. I just do it enough to keep fit."

At that description Vanille pictured a tall girl with short hair dressed in gym clothes and holding a basketball or hockey stick.

"She sounds…tough." Vanille was careful in choosing her words around the girl for fear of offending.

"Who? Sis? Nah! She's a big softie really. She just acts tough to scare people off. Although, she did put three of the strongest boys on the wrestling team in the hospital…"

Vanille added _'scary' _and _'can-kick-my-ass-in-a-flat-second'_ to her earlier description.

Serah Farron and Vanille talked for the rest of homeroom once paperwork and planners were handed out and the class was free reign. She got to know a lot about the girl and her family. She learned Serah had lost both her parents at a young age and her sister had changed drastically after the event. Apparently her and her sister lived alone in the house their parents had given them in their will for when they were older. Their relatives paid the bills and checked up on them every weekend or so. Their aunt and uncle tried to keep them but Serah's sister refused saying it was too much for them at the time. The reality of it was their aunt and uncle had ditched their sickly mother to shop in the big city leaving their only parent left and dying right in front of the siblings' eyes.

"That's horrible!" Vanille gave her a sympathetic look.

"Yeah," a distant look came to the girl's face, "I miss it sometimes." Her expression immediately became happy again. "But then I remember I have Claire and everything will be okay as long as I have her by my side."

The bell rang to end homeroom and the two girls said their goodbyes heading in different directions. Vanille's classes, she found, were scattered across campus going up and down stairs and running to opposite sides of the school. If she wasn't fit now she sure would be ripped by the end of the year. After homeroom she had Math, then Fal'Cie and L'Cie studies, and then lunch.

She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes taking in a surprisingly good scent of baked chicken and corn-on-the-cob with mashed potatoes. Her stomach begged her to hurry and find a seat already. Hope waved to her from a nearby bench.

"Over here, Vanille!" Two boys sat next to him. One with spiky blond hair and one with bright green-blue.

She smiled and strolled cheerily to the table. A pen she had half-heatedly stuffed in her pocket slipped out. She bent down to pick it up and was taken aback by the person that passed her.

_Blue camo pants…and those boots! _She quickly stuffed the pen in her bag, but when she looked up again she saw the pair of legs disappear as the motorcycle driver went outside.

_Damnit!_ She cursed.

"Come on, Vanille, hurry up." Hope gestured for her to come quickly.

She sighed and sat down at the table smiling and cutting up her chicken. "Who are your new friends, Hope?"

"This is Maqui from History class," Hope gestured to the boy with blond hair and goggles with odd snowboarder attire, "and Yuj from my homeroom," this was the boy with long blue-greenish hair. At least his clothes were a more common style.

Vanille smiled warmly at the two boys. The mystery of the biker's identity still gnawed at the back of Vanille's mind. It would have at least been nice if she knew the gender. Knowing that would at least cut down half of the school's population. She played with her food thoughtfully not minding the obnoxious conversation of the three boys in front of her.

A bell rang ending lunch and she set off to her last four classes. English, History, Gym, and Chemistry occupied her mind. Unfortunately they didn't occupy her mind for very long. The core classes were easy review mostly and Gym was just assigning lockers and uniforms. Kids rushed from their classrooms at the last bell nearly knocking the smaller students onto the tile. Vanille kept close to the wall so she wasn't in the middle of it. Hope wasn't in this hallway she guessed and made her way a bit quickly to the entrance of the school.

_That was pretty fast for a first day of school._

A glimpse of bright green caught her eye ahead of her. _There!_ She stood on her toes trying her best to push past the crowd.

"Hey, wait!" She shouted but her voice was lost in the sea of students.

Between her shortness and a group of tall boys in front of her Vanille couldn't see anything but a sleeve of the biker's jacket. She found a free space and bolted toward the parking lot. She had to see who that person was. She just _had_ to! She didn't know what made her want to see the person. Perhaps she was intrigued. The idea of not knowing this person and them mysteriously disappearing right in front of her made her even more interested. She broke free of another clump of people and the tall boys had finally scattered to their vehicles.

"No, wait!" She yelled as the rider zoomed off exiting the school grounds.

Vanille took this time to catch her breath.

"Hey, Vanille!" Hope called to her from his mother's car in a parking space near the front.

Sighing Vanille climbed into the back and hung her head in disappointment.

"So, how was your day?" Mrs. Estheim glanced at her in the rearview mirror.

"It was…interesting." Vanille smiled broadly.

Hope explained his day elaborately on the ride back home and Vanille half listened, half stared out of the window. She said her goodbyes and got out of the car and headed straight for her bedroom. Her parents weren't home yet as expected. She fell down onto her bed after changing into more comfortable clothes and closed her eyes. She couldn't stop thinking about what an odd and eventful day her first day had been.


	2. Fang the Womanizer

**So, this chapter is just to show the relationship between Fang and Lightning. Kind of a dud if you ask me but it's hard to write the beginnings of stories for me. It'll get better later.  
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><p><strong>Chapter II: Fang the Womanizer<br>**

A loud, obnoxious buzzing roused Lightning from her slumber. It seemed like only an hour ago she had fallen asleep. Her eyes opened lazily and she brushed the hair out of her face. Her hand nearly slammed down on the alarm clock putting an end to its annoying sound. She closed her eyes once more trying to get just a few more minutes in of sleep. A loud vibration on her nightstand thwarted her attempt. Lazily she grabbed her cell phone and looked at the screen.

_New Text Message: Fang. _She already knew it was Fang before looking at the screen. Her best friend always texted her in the morning when she woke up.

_Time to get up, Sunshine!_ It read.

She grumbled and smothered her face back into the pillow. Sleep almost found her but three knocks caused her to lose all progress made toward sleep.

"Hey, Claire, Snow said he could take me to school today, okay?" Her sister's voice reached her ears. "You might want to get ready it's about time to leave if you don't want to be late! I love you, Claire; I'll see you at school, bye!" With that she heard Serah leave.

With a sigh she lifted herself off of the mattress and stumbled to the bathroom to brush her messed hair and such things. She slid on a fitting black tank top and camouflage pants with her combat boots. She grabbed her bag hanging off of the chair along with her motorcycle jacket. A breakfast bag sat on the kitchen counter for her to take to school. Serah always made sure Lightning had breakfast. Not that Lightning couldn't cook it herself she just chose to skip out on breakfast sometimes due to morning tiredness. The only reason she even slept was because it was a human need. Each night she would go to bed at two in the morning and every day she would realize how bad going to sleep that late was.

Lightning revved the throttle letting the engine of the motorcycle warm up a bit. She backed out of the driveway area and zoomed off to school. Her jacket ruffled and pulled back a little in the oncoming wind. The sound of the engine and the smooth ride nearly made her fall asleep right there on the motorcycle. She shook sleep away and turned into the school's parking lot. Lightning's mind drifted back to remembering how wonderful sleep felt at that moment. Her subconscious mind took over and parked the bike for her not minding if anyone was nearby.

She heard something behind her but her mind was too into space to actually hear anything in particular. She swung her foot over and locked her motorcycle up. At least her mind was starting to wake up a little bit.

"Mornin', Sunshine!" Fang came up beside her and wrapped an arm around Lightning's shoulders.

"Fang, don't yell, I'm too tired for that," she mumbled.

"Now whose fault is that? I told ya stayin' up late is a bad idea." Fang's expression was similar to the I-told-you-so.

"I know, but I needed to work out twice as much yesterday since I didn't get a chance to when I took Serah out for dinner the other day." Lightning's muscles still felt stiff.

"Being fit won't do you much good if you're dead, Love." Her best friend massaged her aching shoulders.

"What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger, Fang." Light brushed off Fang's hands and walked faster and more upright.

"Don' come runnin' to me saying I was right once you've worked yourself out into a coma." The taller, darker haired girl rolled her eyes.

"If I was in a coma I wouldn't be running anyways." Light sighed.

"You know what I'm saying. There's no need to be hurting yourself like that."

Lightning didn't say anything further the rest of the way into the school grounds. The morning bell rang shortly after and she set off to her homeroom. Fang hugged her and went her separate way for the time being. Honestly, it made Lightning a little sad when her friend wasn't with her. Granted Fang's sarcasm and teasing got tedious but it was an even worse feeling when Fang _wasn't_ teasing her. She wasn't in love with her friend but Fang was the only true friend she had. Lightning had abandoned all of her other friends after her parents' deaths and she began to raise Serah on her own. Her friend had ignored the abandonment and continued to be at her side through the times. No matter how hard Light tried to push her away before Fang would always come running back with just as much force and momentum.

"Good morning, class." Her homeroom teacher stood in front of the room. The man had a western accent and shoulder-length hair with a light stubble beard barely noticeable. "This is Homeroom. Don't bother me and I won't bother you, simple as that. Any questions? No? Good. You're an older bunch so I'm sure you know the get up by now." He passed out Planners and paperwork among the students.

Lightning tossed her paperwork into her bag uncaringly and stretched her legs out crossing her feet at the ankles. The door to the classroom opened and Fang came strolling in to sit at an empty desk near her friend. This wasn't really uncommon for Fang. After the boring objectives of her own Homeroom Fang would often get permission to slip into Light's Homeroom. The two talked-well, mostly Fang talked-for the rest of the class until the bell rang. Inexpressively, Lightning made her way to her next class, Weapons & Technology II. She had a certain fascination with weapons and upgrading. Unfortunately considering it was the first day the teacher didn't even get into any lessons. A complete forty-five minutes of paperwork and explanation of what the class was going to be like throughout the year. The first day of school always aggravated Lightning. It was the same thing for all seven classes. Calculus was next and then lunch.

Lightning entered the cafeteria scanning the building. A head of pink hair similar to hers caught her attention. She glared at the blond sitting to her right. She hated Snow with more than a passion. He was a complete idiot always talking of some nonsense called NORA. A dumb organization that would keep wild creatures out of Bodhum, which made no sense to Lightning since the Guardian Corps had a Regiment for that purpose already.

"Serah," she smiled vaguely at her sister.

"Claire!" Serah jumped up and hugged her older sibling. "How was your day? Did you do anything fun?"

Light couldn't help but smile. "My day is fine so far. It's just been paperwork, nothing fun. How about yours?"

"Great! I have a lot of good classes that I wanted. They're doing paperwork, too, though." Serah hugged her sister tightly. "Love you, Sis!"

"I love you, too." Light rustled her little sister's hair jokingly, "Behave. Remember, if you need anything I'll be right outside with Fang. Just call my name and I'll come running."

Serah giggled, "I know, Claire. I'll be good, don't worry. Go have a fun lunch!" She nudged her sister playfully.

Lightning gave a very faint laugh and started to walk back toward the entrance doors. Her stomach knew what time it was and it was currently controlling her mindset. Fang had her food at the bench. Serah's best homemade soup in a thermos. She almost salivated at the thought.

"Sunshine, there you are!" Fang gestured her over to the bench where a few of their other friends waved hello to Lightning. "How's your sister?"

"She's doing fine. Still with that idiot of a boyfriend." Lightning spat at the pavement emphasizing her disgust.

"He may be an idiot but he still loves your sis." Fang opened her friend's thermos and poured a cup of soup for herself.

Lightning just snorted and shook her head in reply. She grabbed a bread bowl from her earlier breakfast bag and poured her soup into it. She had to admit she was a little saddened when her food was gone. Her friends chatted almost endlessly for the remainder of lunch. Lightning gave somewhat short replies to their questions. She wasn't a big talker.

The next four classes after lunch sort of just dragged on. Lightning was beginning to feel a second wave of exhaustion, partially from the deep cold in the classrooms and partly because of her lack of sleep. Fal'Cie & L'Cie Studies IV was her first class followed by Gym, her social studies class Economics, and finally English Comprehension IV. Lightning had just closed her eyes for a quick nap when the bell rang. She groaned in response, sometimes she missed riding the bus where she could take a small nap. There was no need to push through the crowd. Most people feared her strong punching ability if they even bumped into her so they cleared a path wherever she walked. Fang met her on a bench in a grassy area before the parking lot.

"Mind if I pop in to your place later?" Fang asked smirking and standing before the pink-haired girl.

"You hardly ever ask for permission to come over, Fang." Light remained unfazed as her friend moved in closer.

"I just thought we could study or somethin'." The slightly taller girl traced her finger over Lightning's hidden naval piercing.

Lightning crossed her arms, "We have no books to study with."

Her friend dragged her fingers softly over Lightning's collarbone. "You don't need books to study Sex Ed."

Lightning pushed Fang's hands away and put her motorcycle helmet on. "You have enough education in that area. I'll see you later."

She was used to Fang hitting on her. Light had caved a couple of times, probably from hormones and such. From the times she had experienced those actions with Fang she found out her best friend definitely knew how to please another woman. Better than her ex-boyfriend at least. Back before Light's parents died Fang was known to have a sort of womanizer reputation. Any cute girl, especially those that wore skirts, she chased after. Even the ones who still thought they only liked males. It was said that Oerba Yun Fang could turn any girl for the "other team" so to say. Even Lightning had to admit it could hard to reject Fang…sometimes…only sometimes.


	3. So Familiar

**Hey everybody! **Sorry I've been gone so long. A combination of new video games, shin splints, movies, and writer's block has kept me at bay for so long! I tried my best with this chapter and actually put more into it than originally planned. I think the ending was a bit rushed since I'm a little tired since it's 12AM but I tried my best not to rush it too much. By the way _**there's a random conversation in here that will be very important when it comes to later chapters so pay attention! **_ I'm not going to say what it is at the moment since that will be a spoiler but I'll let you guys know when the chapter comes to go back and reread if you forget! Which, knowing my pace at chapter posting you might forget XD. OH! I also pre-ordered my FFXIII-2 and was so happy with the artwork and the soundtrack! Noel might not be my favorite character but he's got a really cool theme song! So sad =[ I would talk about some surprising things about the game but I don't want to ruin anything but it definitely was a shocker! Then again it was also a typical Square Enix...thing...so I guess I should have known but ah well =[! Anyways enjoy the chapter and bear with me! I **SUCK** at beginnings!

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><p><strong>Chapter IV: So Familiar<strong>

Two weeks had passed since Vanille had encountered the mysterious biker and yet she could not get the figure out of her mind. She didn't have the slightest clue as to why it bugged her so much. She had tried to figure it out by using Serah's sister's yearbook to see if the person was wearing the jacket that day-surprisingly, she still had never met or seen her friend's sibling nor did she know her name since Serah always called her "Sis". Her mind drew its focus back to class and the bell ringing for lunch. She gathered her things and headed to her locker to switch out her books and get her bag lunch. Vanille pressed her head against the cool metal of the locker. For some reason her moods followed the gloomy weather. Being sad was not one of her favorite things so she usually tried her best to be cheerful around others.

"Someone's got a long face, ya?" An unfamiliar voice sounded behind her. It belonged to a female, an upperclassman specifically.

Vanille turned to greet a pair of green eyes similar to her own although slightly more pale in comparison. The girl had dark hair with natural red tips that stuck out in places. She was taller by more than a few inches with tan skin. Vanille had to will herself to concentrate and break the trance of those green eyes.

"I-I was just getting my lunch." Vanille cursed her shaky voice.

"I didn't know getting lunch could be so depressing." She raised a brow.

"It's the weather." The girl squeaked again.

""Oh, I see," the taller woman pressed her hand on the locker to Vanille's right and leaned forward. "How about you come and sit with me at lunch then?"

"Uhm, okay… I guess." How could she say no? For one, this was an upperclassman and for two those bright eyes made her incapable of saying otherwise.

"All right, come on let's get you cheered up." The taller girl wrapped her arm around Vanille's shoulders and led her out of the hallway to an outside lunch bench. "Name's Fang by the way. I suppose you have a name, right? What is it?"

"V-Vanille." She squeaked.

"Vanille… I like it." Fang winked at the shy girl attempting to lighten the mood some.

When they arrived at the lunch bench there were already five people seated. A girl on the left side had black hair and warm brown eyes. This girl sat across from a muscular boy with spiky hair that swept downward; his eyes were a nice blue. And next to him was a sweet blond with brown eyes again who smiled kindly at the young girl. Finally, an upperclassman female sat at the end of the table on the same side as the girl with dark hair. She didn't look up at Vanille or even throw a glance. A cold, stoic atmosphere reached Vanille from this girl. Vanille had to admit she became a little frightened but mostly, she was deeply intrigued by it.

"Well guys, I'd like to introduce you to Vanille here. Vanille, I'd like you to meet Tifa, Zack, and Stella." Fang spoke off the names in the order that Vanille had seen each person. "Oh, and that bright ray of sunshine over there is Lightning, or Light for short."

_Lightning… What an odd name. _The short redhead had heard lots of strange names throughout her life but none so much as Lightning. It made her wonder if it was just a nickname.

Her intrigues feeling by the strange name changed to captivation as she truly looked at the older girl. She gawked at light, soft, pink bangs that brushed against milky pale skin with icy blue eyes that cut through any barrier and read your soul like an open book. This girl was beyond any measure of beautiful that anyone could imagine.

"What?" the girl spoke harshly breaking Vanille out of her stupor.

"Oh, uh, n-nothing, I just think you're pretty." Vanille attempted a friendly smile.

"Whatever. Just stop staring at me." Lightning spoke in an annoying tone and turned away to stare into space.

"Oh, Light, stop it she's just trying to be nice." Fang shook her head and turned to whisper into Vanille's ear, "Don't worry she's this grumpy to everyone."

"I heard that," Lightning grumbled.

"Good, maybe you'll stop being such a grouch to our guest." Fang shot back in a more playful tone.

"Tch," was Lightning's only response.

"C'mon, love, sit right here next to me." Fang gave a sly wink and patted the spot next to her…which just so happened to be the spot directly across from the cold upperclassman, Lightning.

Vanille took her seat and tried not to stare at the gorgeous, but very dangerous, upperclassman who was still staring off into the distance. It took every ounce of will power Vanille had not to just reach over and run her fingers through that amazing hair.

"So, Vanille," the dark-haired girl, Tifa, began, "how old are you?"

"U-uh, fifteen," the nervous freshman stuttered.

Tifa giggled, "Don't be scared, sweetie, we won't hurt you. Not even Light will touch you. She tries not to hit females. As for Zack," she giggled again, "well Zack's just a big teddy bear!"

The blond, Stella, giggled as well and nodded her head.

Vanille relaxed a little at the lightened atmosphere and broke a small smile. She still felt bad that Lightning was being left out but she figured if the girl wanted to be a part of the conversation she would be. Still she glanced every now and then to see those beautiful eyes and watch the wind lightly brush pink bangs over pale skin. It was almost like a drug for the eyes that she could never get enough of.

"Hey! Vanille!" Hope called and waved to her as he and the two other boys passed.

"Hi, Hope." She smiled at him trying to look innocent.

"Why didn't you sit with us today?" His eyes roamed around the table skeptically.

"Ah, well, I met an upperclassman and they asked me to sit with them. Sorry I didn't tell you, Hope." She smiled again but a bit apologetically this time.

"It's okay," his look became less skeptical, "I'll see you later then." He waved once more and walked off.

Vanille waved back and sighed once he had left hearing distance.

"Was that your boyfriend?" Tifa asked a bit enthusiastically.

"Wh-who? Hope? Oh, no we're just friends. I've known him since elementary school." Vanille couldn't help blushing.

"I see. He seems like a nice boy to be friends with."

"He is." _Great now they think I have some crush on him like a little kid. How much more embarrassing can this get?_

"So, Vanille, what's your class schedule?" Fang asked a bit mischievously.

"Homeroom first, then Math, then Fal'Cie and L'Cie studies, and then after lunch I have English, History, Gym, and Chemistry. Nothing fun yet. Why do you want to know?" By the look on Fang's face Vanille assumed it would be a sexual reason.

"Just curious about my new friend is all. Did you think I was going to stalk ya?" Fang winked resulting in a cherry shade of blush from Vanille.

_Please ring bell, please ring! _Vanille attempted to will the bell to ring before her mind became dizzy from all of this blushing.

As if the Maker himself had heard her plea the bell to end lunch rang and she bid everyone farewell and went off to her next classes. She tried to not run and make it seem like she disliked them but she was never really good at those things.

* * *

><p>Lightning feigned ignoring the conversation between her friends and Vanille while truthfully listening to every word. Despite the girl being a freshman she had entered Lightning's territory and made friendships with Light's friends. Anyone who her friends accepted into the group she profiled and took note of nearly everything about them. In perfect honesty she had no idea why she did that with everyone. She just did it. Sizing up the competition perhaps?<p>

_Tch, she is no competition for me._ It was true. Whether the educators and principal wanted to admit it or not Lightning Farron had heavy influence throughout the entire school. She didn't particularly like acknowledging this power in public or abusing it however. Light owned up to her wrongdoings-usually-and admitted her guilt. Her pride was strong but her honor was stronger. Her pride earned her fear from the students and her honor earned her respect from the authorities.

"Lightning!" Fang snapped her out of her territorial thoughts.

"What?" Light cleaned up lunch and tossed the brown bag into the trashcan.

"What do ya think about Vanille? She's a cute one, yeah?"

"Sure."

"Oh come on, Light! I saw you movin' your eyes around her. And I could tell you strike her fancy too." Fang punched Lightning's arm playfully.

"She's a freshman and I'm a senior. That stuff doesn't happen." Lightning's statement referred to the understood policies of Upperclassmen-Underclassmen do's and don'ts. One of them included a loss of respect and reputation for a senior dating an underclassman.

"So? I've been with plenty of fresh-meats and I still have a high reputation. Freshmen are always sweet and innocent anyways making them the most fun." Another sly grin from Fang.

"Not going to happen, Fang." Light ended the conversation by entering her classroom leaving Fang in the hallway.

"We'll see about that, Sunshine…" Fang shook her head and went off to her own class.

_Damn Fang and her freshman. _Lightning gave an aggravated grunt and sat down in her seat.

Lightning was almost glad that class was in session to distract her from the situation. What frustrated her more was the fact that she didn't know _why_ it was bothering her. It was probably her natural dislike for every freshman except Serah and their immaturity. She sighed the thoughts away and stared at the board taking notes as her teacher wrote them and explained in a relatively humorous and sarcastic way. The teacher's humor eased the pain of the slow clock.

Not much more went through Lightning's mind during the rest of the day. She didn't truly like to think or let other people know that she enjoyed thinking. Thinking led to an emotion and emotions can become expressions. Lightning Farron was known for not having expressions other than anger and annoyance. But despite this reputation and dislike of thought, Light kept remembering Vanille. She reminded her of Serah during middle school, quiet and scared of her own shadow. Lightning didn't like the fact that Vanille reminded her of Serah. Maker it bothered her to the point of frustration! She couldn't have these thoughts if she wanted to be strong for Serah.

* * *

><p>Vanille stared at the television not really paying attention to what was going on. Lunch replayed on a loop inside her head and Lightning's face was always the most vivid. The face was so familiar but she couldn't figure out what or who it reminded her of. She decided it was probably some famous person that Lightning looked similar to.<p>

"Sweetheart, dinner's ready!" Her father called from the dining room.

"All right, Dad, I'm coming!" She called back and strolled to her seat at the table. She was a little please to see chicken on her plate.

"How was your day today, baby girl?" Her father asked.

"Good, I made some new friends today. Where's Mom? Working a later shift?"

"Yeah the hospital had some last minute emergencies and one of the other surgeons had to leave early." He ate a few pieces of chicken before continuing. "You made some new friends, huh? Who are they?"

"Fang, Stella, Tifa, Zack…but I'm not really sure about the other girl but her name was Lightning." The chicken was excellently moist and not too hot.

"Wow you really did make some new friends today! Are they in your grade?"

"No, they're upperclassmen."

"I see. How did you meet them then?"

"Well, Fang came up to me on my way to lunch and noticed how nervous I was so she offered me to sit with her and her friends during lunch."

_More like hypnotized me to have lunch with her…_ Vanille gave a slight smile at the humorous incident.

"By that smile on your face I'm guessing you like your new friends." He smiled as he chewed on his noodles.

"Yeah, but I won't forget about Hope. He seems to be growing away from me though." The thought saddened her a little.

"Well sometimes moving on into high school can pull some people apart. It's a bigger place than middle school and new people can get in the way of older friendships." Her father gave an encouraging and almost apologetic smile.

"I know. Isn't it your Freshman and Junior years where you are most likely to lose your friends?"

"Usually, things happen and people grow apart. But if you're meant to be friends it'll happen."

"That was so cheesy, Dad."

"Maybe." He winked and they both laughed.

The two finished dinner and Vanille left for her comforting room. As her eyes closed for a quick rest a sudden thought hit her so hard it seemingly stopped her heart for a split second. She grabbed at her phone and scrolled to Serah's number and typed: _Do you have a yearbook from your sister's years in high school? I need to find someone._

Serah replied back shortly after. _Sure. Who are you looking for?_

_I'm not really sure. I don't know their real name. Thanks so much!_

The following day came quite smoothly and with some slight anticipation. She hung around Hope and his new group of friends while waiting impatiently for the morning bell to ring. She was determined to find out why this Lightning person seemed so familiar to her. Vanille tried to think of every feature the girl would have in common with someone she knew but none of it clicked. It was like trying to put together a puzzle that had a blurred picture for reference. Her brow furrowed slightly and she bolted the minute the bell rang for Homeroom.

Of course Serah hadn't arrived in the classroom when Vanille did but she wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss Serah and the yearbook. As five minutes passed during the ten minute passing time and Serah hadn't arrived yet Vanille regretted coming in so early to class. But finally Serah did walk through the door and handed Vanille the red and gold book. Vanille opened it so fast it gave her a paper cut.

"Ouch!" She yelped and sucked the blood off of her finger.

"Be careful, Vanille," Serah giggled, "You can use that yearbook for as long as you want I promise. Have you figured out who you're looking for?"

"Sort of, I know their first name and what they look like." She flipped through the Freshmen section of the yearbook according to the person's age and the year of the yearbook.

Her eyes saw nothing but unfamiliar faces until she came across Zack. His picture with extremely long hair amused her but didn't distract her from her goal. Then she saw it, a girl with crystal blue eyes, pink hair, and pale skin and an expressionless face.

Claire Farron.

_Farron._ Vanille pondered the name. Then her brain let two plus two equal four and she turned to look at Serah. "Serah?"

"What's up?" The strawberry blonde looked away from her novel and at Vanille.

"Is this…your sister?" She pointed to the portrait in the book.

"Yeah, that's Claire. I couldn't find any of them but her newer yearbooks don't have her real name _Claire_ anymore they have _Lightning_ instead."

"Wait did you say _Lightning_? I met her yesterday at lunch! Wait another minute! This is your sister?" Vanille jumped up in shock causing the whole class to stare at her. "Oh, uh, sorry about that." She shyly sat back down.

"You didn't know? I assumed when I told you about her you already knew who she was. She's so popular I stopped asking if people knew her." Serah giggled almost uncontrollably at the ironic situation.

"She's very pretty. But she's kind of mean, too, and doesn't like me. At least I don't think she does." The thought made Vanille a little saddened.

"Don't worry, Vanille, she doesn't necessarily dislike _you_ she's just that type of person. Ever since our parents died she turned into a completely different person. She says it's to be strong for me but I think she's doing it to hide parts of herself, too." She nudged Vanille playfully on the shoulder.

"Oh, I wish I would have known."

"Don't worry about it."

Not much went on after that and Vanille relaxed a little now that her mystery was solved. She felt a little dumb for not realizing it sooner since the two looked like twins practically.

_Lightning's hair is not as pink though…and her eyes are a little more transparent…and… _Vanille experienced a warm sensation in her chest picturing the upperclassman in her head. In perfect honesty she couldn't wait for lunch in hopes to see Lightning again.

Lunch finally did come and she attempted to search for the table she sat at the previous day. Luckily Tifa was already seated so it was easier to spot.

"Hi, Tifa." Vanille smiled.

"Hey, Vanille, how are you today?" Tifa returned the smile.

"I'm okay. A little excited actually since I just solved a great mystery!"

"Really? What kind of mystery?" Tifa seemed truly intrigued.

"Don't laugh but… I just found out that Lightning is Serah's older sister. I have homeroom with Serah but my mind didn't put the two together when I saw Lightning." She felt a little embarrassed admitting her stupidity.

Of course Tifa giggled. "I can see how that would be frustrating. Lightning loves her younger sister. They've always been close and Lightning has always protected Serah. I'm pretty sure Lightning had the happiest day of her life when Serah was born." Tifa's voice was soft as she spoke of all of this.

A grunt by Light interrupted the conversation as she sat down to eat her lunch. Vanille ended the conversation but she really wanted to tell Lightning that she had met her sister. The coward in her didn't want to upset to older student however so she simply sat down and began to eat.

"Hey, Vanille! Hey, Sunshine!" Fang and the rest of her friends sat in the same pattern as yesterday on the bench.

"Hello, Fang!" Vanille said delightfully.

"Hi," was Lightning's only reply.

"How've you been, Vanille?" Fang gave a one-armed hug nearly squishing Vanille.

"Good. Just another day, ya know?" She, again, wanted to say much more but Light was right there and her fear got the better of her.

"I hear ya!"

The small redhead looked around as she ate her lunch taking in the cool day and the slight overcast. She wondered if it was going to rain sometime this week. As she looked down at her trey again she noticed a glimpse of neon green. She looked again and her eyes grew wide.

_The motorcycle person!_

She jumped up and pointed at Lightning, "You're the motorcycle person!"

Lightning looked up and raised a brow, "What?"

"Oh, you, uhm, almost hit me and Hope as we were walking into school on the first day." She felt another strong blush and her stomach knotted in fear. _Will she hit me?_

"I did?" The words had more concern than usual at least.

"Yeah, but it's okay though… Uhm, I also realized your Serah Farron's sister today. You two look really alike." She spoke shyly.

"Thanks." Lightning's eyes returned to her food thereby ending the conversation.

The younger girl sat back down blushing even more at the playful comments her new friends were making at the situation. She also endured a few slightly painful punches in the arm by Fang. She was in a relatively good mood now though. All of the ironic pieces of the puzzle had finally fit like they were supposed to. One thing she couldn't figure out even still was her desire to constantly see Lightning's face and look at her eyes. Maybe one day soon she would figure that out as well but her poor puberty-ridden mind needed a break.


End file.
